The “If you see something, say something” slogan is intended to prevent a terrorist attack. But that same line of thinking successfully resulted in the arrest of a couple suspected of stealing a commercial propane delivery truck in Taunton.

The “If you see something, say something” slogan is intended to prevent a terrorist attack. But that same line of thinking successfully resulted in the arrest of a couple suspected of stealing a commercial propane delivery truck in Taunton.

Early Tuesday morning, police said they were able to apprehend a Taunton man and a South Attleboro woman, thanks to a series of phone calls and communications that started when someone noticed a damaged security gate on West Water Street belonging to Energy USA Propane.

Both James V. Vadala, 44, of 21 Hodges Ave., and Ann Marie Sullivan, 27, of 95 Birch St., South Attleboro, have been charged with receiving stolen property, a motor vehicle.

Vadala, who was also charged with driving on a suspended license — and was charged with the same offense in 2006, according to police — was ordered held on $5,000 bail by Judge David Turcotte after arraignment Tuesday in Taunton District Court.

His alleged passenger, Sullivan, was released on personal recognizance and is due back for a pre-trial hearing Aug. 9, court records show.

Sullivan’s 2-year-9-month-old baby — who cops said was found wedged in between the driver’s and passenger seats in an unsecured, child’s car seat — was temporarily taken into custody and care of the Department of Children and Families, after a DCF representative reportedly interviewed her subsequent to her being booked.

Police said they tracked down the couple and pulled them over on Winthrop Street at 1:45 a.m., but not before Vadala, the driver, took evasive action by making turns onto side streets.

The would-be thieves’ downfall, police said, began at 7:40 p.m. when a friend of a part-time handyman who does work for Energy USA Propane ( headquartered in Myles Standish Industrial Park) noticed that part of the gate at 605 West Water St. — where the company stores vehicles — had been knocked down.

The handyman, in turn, called the company’s answering service, who called the company’s “on-call” employee who then went to the site and found a “spare truck” in the rear of the yard missing and four other trucks that had been entered, police said.

Sullivan reportedly told cops she and her baby accepted a ride from a truck driver after her car broke down, while she was heading to a friend’s house on Silver Street.

Police said she was unable to provide them with the name of the “friend.”

Vadala, meanwhile, told cops he was with a friend named Craig when Sullivan called asking for a ride.

Vadala said his friend, whose last name and address he was unable to provide police, had told him it was okay for Vadala to use his “work truck,” police said.